Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is pleased to participate in FOG Design+Art 2024 with a group exhibition celebrating the generative influence Eastern thought and aesthetics had on American art of the last hundred years. Featured artists include Leo Amino, Ruth Asawa, Mary Bauermeister, William Baziotes, Harry Bertoia, Lee Bontecou, Joseph Cornell, Harold Cousins, Jay DeFeo, Beauford Delaney, Claire Falkenstein, Morris Graves, Lee Krasner, Yayoi Kusama, Ibram Lassaw, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Alfonso Ossorio, Agnes Pelton, Richard Pousette-Dart, Betye Saar, Sonja Sekula, Toshiko Takaezu, Lenore Tawney, Alma Thomas, Mark Tobey, Charmion von Wiegand, and William T. Williams. In complement to a rich selection of painting, sculpture, collage, ceramics, and works on paper dating from 1938 to 2019, Booth 211 also features furniture by George Nakashima (1905–1990), one of the leading design innovators of the twentieth century and a father of the American craft movement.

Over the last thirty-five years, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery has organized numerous group and solo exhibitions that have focused on the influence of Eastern thought and traditions on American artists. The gallery’s dedication to exposing audiences to this aspect of American modernism stems not only from its historical under-recognition, but also from the profundity of its effect, which is aptly summarized by Guggenheim curator Alexandra Munroe in her text for the landmark 2009 exhibition The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989: “What emerges [from studying the influence of Eastern thought in the U.S.] is a history of how artists working in America selectively adapted Eastern ideas and art forms to create not only new styles of art, but more importantly, a new theoretical definition of the contemplative experience and self-transformative role of art itself. The Asian dimension also gave a universalist logic to the modern and neo-avant-garde premise that art, life, and consciousness are interpenetrating realities unified by an existential concreteness.”

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s FOG presentation will feature several standout sculptures from mid-century. S.391/50 (c.1958), a crocheted wire sculpture by Ruth Asawa (1926–2013), is exceptional for its golden patina—a rare quality in Asawa’s body of sculptures. S.391/50 takes the form of six double-sided, trumpet-like shapes that expand outward from a central void, embodying the tension between formal opposites that is at the heart of her practice: positive and negative space, lightness and weight, individual line and overall form. Evoking the impression of hay illuminated by sunlight, Untitled (c.1963–64) is an exceptional sculpture by Harry Bertoia (1915–1978); composed of bronze-coated steel wires that have been meticulously welded into a complex, freestanding sculpture, Untitled testifies to Bertoia’s refined metalworking abilities and his deep spiritual connection to the natural world. Finally, Untitled (Fusion) (c.1970) by Claire Falkenstein (1908–1997) is a standout example of her iconic Fusion sculptures, wherein molten glass cascades through intricately composed, calligraphic copper structures.

A selection of both two- and three-dimensional works on view in Booth 211 exemplifies the diverse approaches to spiritual abstraction taken by some of the most significant artists of the twentieth century. Three noteworthy works include: Untitled (c.1942) by transcendentalist painter Agnes Pelton (1881–1961), whose metaphysical composition references the seed pods of a magnolia tree. Magnolia trees are frequently portrayed in the traditional art of China and Japan, where they symbolize purity, nobility, perseverance, feminine beauty, and gentleness. An untitled, minimalist, ink-on-paper brush composition by abstract expressionist painter Norman Lewis (1909–1979) reflects the artist’s interest in Chinese calligraphy—an influence that was nurtured by his gallerist, Marian Willard, a founding member of the Asia Society in New York. Further, three forms by master ceramicist and lifelong practitioner of Zen Buddhism Toshiko Takaezu (1922–2011) exhibit her signature glazing techniques, wherein the surfaces of her vessels and closed forms act as canvases for her grand gestural markings. Takaezu’s admiration of natural forms was borne of a deep reverence for the environment that was intimately connected to her spiritual beliefs.

The spiritual aspect of Takaezu’s art practice is characteristic of many of the artists featured in Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s presentation, including Charmion von Wiegand (1896–1983), whose hard-edged geometric composition Gouache #175: The Second Chakra (1962) was inspired by diagrammatic renderings of the seven-chakra system central to the exercises of Hatha Yoga. Von Wiegand’s study of Tantra had intensified in the 1950s and 1960s after she began attending yoga classes led by Yogi Vithaldas, who advanced the notion that Indian philosophy could coexist with Western medicine. Similarly, the welded and brazed bronze sculpture Asparas (1959) by Ibram Lassaw (1913–2003) shares its name with deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology known for their superior dancing abilities, after which a traditional dance of Southeast Asia is modeled. Lassaw studied Zen Buddhism under the influential scholar D. T. Suzuki at Columbia University in New York from 1953 to 1955, and the religion became an important source of inspiration for his sculpture practice in the years following his studies. Finally, Untitled (c.1964) by Mark Tobey (1890–1976) exemplifies the calligraphic, all-over approach for which he is known, wherein a luminescent web of white ink or paint imbues the composition with a sense of mystical transcendence. Inspired by Arabic and the East Asian languages he studied, Tobey became a convert to the Bahá’í Faith in 1918; toward the end of his life, he explained that the “white writings” of his paintings “symbolize the light, the unifying thought which flows across the compartments of life, and these give strength to the spirit and are constantly renewing their energies so that there can be a greater understanding of life.”